"Lawrence Watt-Evans - Dus 3 - Sword Of Bheleu" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

flew in every direction at the impact of the warbeast's weight; the man had
time for one short scream before Koros smashed the chimney out of the way and
ripped him apart.
Garth did not wait to watch the archer's death; he was already pointing
out another to Kyrith's warbeast. When that animal had leaped for its target,
he turned back to Galt's, and then started on the first row of five.
Not all the warbeasts were as successful as Koros; one missed the roof
it was aiming for and tried to scramble up the wall, its claws tearing out
chunks of wood and plaster. Another made its leap perfectly, but landed on a
thatched roof that was unable to support its weight; the beast and the archer
it pursued both vanished into the building's upper floor, amid growls and
screams.
Not all the bowmen were on rooftops; some were behind upper-floor
windows too small for the huge animals to fit through. The warbeasts, direct
and simple creatures, dealt with this by ripping out the wall around each
window.
When he had sent warbeasts after every archer he could locate, leaving
four of the animals in the middle of the square, Garth turned his attention
back to the fighting in front of the mansion. His troops appeared to have the
situation in hand. Outnumbering the humans two to one, even after the
casualties inflicted by the archers, the overmen seemed to have their main
problem in avoiding their own fellows. The twenty-five guards had been reduced
to a knot of half a dozen, clustered in front of the open doors around the
burning body of their lord.
The civilian population of the town had done nothing yet except to
produce a great deal of noise; no one had ventured into the square. The crowds
seemed smaller; probably, Garth thought, many had fled and taken shelter
wherever they could. Those who remained merely watched, yelling.
Garth dismissed them from consideration for the moment and strode
forward to aid his warriors in dealing with the surviving guardsmen.
"Hold!" he called. "Stand back!"
Reluctantly, the overmen obeyed. The remaining humans stood, swords
bristling, and waited.
"There is no need to continue the fight! Surrender and we will allow you
to live."
Herrenmer was one of the survivors. It was he who answered, "Never,
monster! We saw how well we could trust you when you slew the Baron!"
Garth fought down a surge of anger. "Have not enough of your men died,
Herrenmer? We outnumber you now by almost ten to one and we have our warbeasts
as well. You have fought bravely and well on behalf of your dead lord, but you
have lost; give up and we will let you live. I swear it."
"Hah! This for your sworn word!" He flung his short sword at Garth, much
as Garth had flung the Sword of Bheleu at the Baron.
Garth, however, ducked; the sword flew over his head and landed rattling
on the hard ground beyond.
Several of the overmen growled, but made no aggressive move; this was
between Garth and the human.
"Herrenmer, don't be a fool. Now you've even lost your sword; you can't
fight anymore. Say that you surrender, and no harm will come to you."
Herrenmer did not answer; instead he looked about in desperation for a